Motomu Toriyama
Motomu Toriyama (鳥山 求) | |
|---|---|
 Motomu Toriyama at the 2010 Game Developers Conference. | |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation(s) | Director and scenario writer of video games at Square Enix. |
Motomu Toriyama (鳥山 求, Toriyama Motomu) is a Japanese game director and scenario writer that has been working for Square Enix since 1995. He is the director in charge of the main series Final Fantasy games developed by their 1st Production Department, which is managed by Yoshinori Kitase.
Game design philosophy
Motomu Toriyama believes his strength is in creating games that are very story-driven.[1] He also believes that it becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when the player is given a huge amount of freedom to explore.[2] Motomu Toriyama believes that it's more important for the player to be engaged with the story and characters before the actual gameplay in a Final Fantasy game. He also highly values vibrant special effects being used in the battle system of the game he's directing; the main reason for Final Fantasy XIII to not have a seamless battle system was because it would not have been possible to have vibrant special effects in a seamless battle system due to the amount of memory and processing power needed. Toriyama is also more interested in using FPS games for inspiration rather than other console RPGs, as he believes they give a better sense of tension during battles.[3]
Final Fantasy complications
The game design philosophy of Motomu Toriyama is the polar opposite to that of Hiroyuki Ito, who directed Final Fantasy XII. This has led to the main series Final Fantasy games made by the two directors being very different from each other:
- Final Fantasy XII put more effort into the gameplay and battle system and gave a lot of freedom in the areas of both exploration and customization.
- Final Fantasy XIII put more effort into the story and characters and was very linear in the areas of both exploration and customization.
Criticism
Critical reception to Motomu Toriyama's game design philosophy has been mixed. While his use of it in Final Fantasy X was mostly well-received, the change in gaming climate has made console RPGs offering freedom in both story and exploration more popular in contemporary society. During development of Final Fantasy XIII, Motomu Toriyama said the game would show "the next game after Final Fantasy X," but the finished game was criticized for using the wrong game design philosophy in relation to the contemporary gaming market. [citation needed] Edge Magazine said about the game design of Final Fantasy XIII, "The game’s producers have gone on record as saying that western audiences don’t understand this first section, but in fact we do: it’s just a bit rubbish. The first 25 hours of the game are one long corridor of palette-swapped enemies, fights that never quite find the right level of challenge, and cutscene after cutscene (after cutscene) leaving your joypad entirely idle."[4]
Motomu Toriyama is also seen by some Final Fantasy fans as an incompetent director of the main series Final Fantasy games. [citation needed] However, it should be noted that Yoshinori Kitase specifically chose Toriyama to be his successor after the positive reception to Final Fantasy X which was Toriyama's directorial debut. At the South Korean launch event of Final Fantasy XIII, Yoshinori Kitase went on record to say that he wants to continue working closely with Toriyama on main series Final Fantasy games.[5]
GameSpot raised concerns over Toriyama's portrayal of women in his story for The 3rd Birthday. They said, "Unfortunately, the character around whom this story revolves is a frustrating one. A tale like this needs a strong hero at its center, and Aya comes across as far too weak to support the story. During cutscenes, she often responds to people not with words but with a tentative whimper, and when one character talks about her appearance in ways that are inappropriate and downright creepy, Aya's responses make it seem like she finds this treatment perfectly normal."[6] They also said, "Aya is one-part action hero, one-part submissive sex object (a facet that's reinforced by some of the revealing and hilariously impractical outfits you can unlock), and it's a combination that doesn't work in the game's favor."[6]
Works
References
- ^ Christian Nutt (March 10, 2010). "GDC: FF XIII Director - Production Drove Content Decisions, Elements Will Return". Gamasutra.
Motomu Toriyama: Personally, the Final Fantasys that I have worked on have been very story-driven, so in terms of the development I wanted to, of course, use my personal strengths which where those,
- ^ Tim Ingham (February 16, 2010). "Final Fantasy XIII boss responds to review scores". Computer and Video Games.
Motomu Toriyama: When you look at most Western RPGs, they just dump you in a big open world, and let you do whatever you like... [It] becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when you're given that much freedom.
- ^ Lynch, Gerald (19 February 2010). "Final Fantasy XIII 's Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase - Interview". News. Tech Digest. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
Motomu Toriyama: Mass Effect and Fallout allow the players to play with more freedom, and within their story-lines it is quite successful. But we're more interested in things such as first person shooters like Call of Duty. They give a better sense of tension on the battlefield. We some times draw inspiration from those sorts of games. It's not just RPGs but FPS titles that get us excited.
- ^ Edge Staff (5 March 2010). "Review: Final Fantasy XIII". Edge Magazine.
- ^ "FF13을 통해 전하고 싶었던 것은" (in Korean). GAMESHOT.NET. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ a b Carolyn Petit (March 26, 2011). "The 3rd Birthday Review". GameSpot.
- ^ "The complete video of Final Fantasy VII: Technical Demo for PS3".
- ^ "FFX producer developing PS3 Final Fantasy?". GameSpot. June 8, 2005.
Yoshinori Kitase: As a hint, one thing I can say is that the FFVII technical PS3 demo was supervised by me and created by Toriyama and his team staff.
External links
- Motomu Toriyama profile and photo gallery at the Square Haven People Database
- Motomu Toriyama at IMDb
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